Side bearing for railway cars



fvzvevzfi t F (0a 72220685. a an HEW H. F. WARDWELL ET AL SIDE BEARING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Oct. 21, 1927 April 25, 1933.

Patented Apr. 25, 1933 UNITED STAT-ES PATENT orr c'e HENRY r. WARDWELL Ann WALTER o. BLADYIN, or OHICAGO, ILLINOIS sInEBEARI vG FOR RAILWAY cans Application filed October 21, 1927. Serial No. 227,690.

This invention relates to railway side bearings of the self-centering type.

The main objects of this invention-are to provide an improved form of side "hearing of the self-centering type which will keep itself drained of water at all times;-to

provide a bearing of this'type which'is strong, substantial, durable and economical to manufacture; and to provide an improved form of bearing housing in which can he used bearing rollers having square edges, such as result when the rollers are cut from a length oftubing or round bar.

An illustrative embodiment of this indrawing in which Figure l is a top plan view of the iin proved bearing, with the bearing roller in place therein. s

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal elevation of the same, showing the wear plate for the roller in position above the bearing, a portion of the bearing housing being shown in vertical section as indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 with the exception of the bearing roller, which is shown in elevation.

Fig. 4c is a section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Heretofore in the use of side bearings which are ofgenera-l cup-shaped appearance, certain difliculties have been encountered, due to lack of drainage of the water which necessarily accumulates therein, and especially during the winter time when this water becomes frozen, thus preventing the bearing roller from properly functioning. In the present invention, the bearing housing has been so designed that the concave bearing surface is of less width than the inside width of the housing, thus providing grooves at the sides thereof for carrying the water to the opposite ends of the housing wherein there is provided sumps from which the water is suitably drained by means of openings extending through thehousing and communicating with the sumps.

In the construction shown in the drawing, an elongated cup-shaped housingi l is provided with semi-cylindrical end walls '2- and '3 having a vertical axis with respect to the hearing when it is mounted in positionon a' railway truck bolster. The up; per'surface 4 of the bottom 5 of thehousing is concave so as to cause theself-centering of the bearing roller-16, and is of narrower width than the inside width of the housing, forming grooves 4A and 413 along the opposite sides thereof for carrying away water. The semi-cylindricalend walls 2 and 3' have an inside'dia'meter less than the width of theupper surface 4 of the bottom' of the housing, thus forming the spaced abutments 17, 17 and 18, 18' which are spacedfrom the respective ends of the surface'tand afiord stops to limit the travel of the roller 16. The ends of the concave surface 4 terminate in spaced relation to the ends of the housingl so as toprovide substantially flat I bottomed --comloination,,- drain sumps and bolt or rivethead"receiving recesses 6 and 7-, the bottom surfaces of these sumps being on substantially the same plane as the lowermost point of the concave bearing surface 4:. The sumps 6 and 7 are provided with vertically disposed bolt or rivet holes 8' and 9, respectively, extending through the bottom of the housing, for receiving the usual retaining means. The cylindrical end walls, 2 and 3 are provided with drain holes 10' and 11, respectively, the lower sides of which are on substantially the same plane as the floor of the sumps 6 and 7 so as to keep the sumps drained free of water at' all times.

Awear plate 12 is provided in the usual manner for contacting with the bearing roller 16 and it is adapted to be attached to the car body in the customary manner.

From the foregoing it will be observed that we have provided a side bearing forrailway cars in'which the substantially rectangular housing having the bottom, side and end walls is so arranged thatithe raised concave surface 4, which is spaced from the side walls thus forming the grooves 4A and 4B, is also arranged to terminate short of the abutments 17, 1.7 and 18, 18. These air:

abutments are arranged in vertical spaced relation and lie beyond the ends of the runway. These abutments, which are reinforced by the semi-cylindrical end walls 2 5 and 3, are spaced apart a less distance than the width of the roller and runway so that, when the roller reaches the ends of its travel, it engages the abutmcnts at spaced points affording a relatively large space between these abutments which is out of contact with any wall. This'prevents theaccumulation of snow and ice between the end walls and the roller and prevents freezing of the roller in one of the endmost positions of its travel.- Thus the cylindrical bearing surface of the roller which may contact with the abutments- 17 or 18, as the'case maybe, is, under these conditions restricted to a limited surface of contact and thus the relative- Bly small amount of snow or ice which might possibly collect at these points of contact would not be suflicient to hold the roller against freedom of movement.

The invention overcomes one of the main difficulties with side bearings, particularlywhere they are applied to refrigerator cars which sometimes must stand: for relatively long periods of. time on sidings or curves or in positions in which the truck is swung at "an angle to the body of the car, this result-,

ing in the" drain water from therefrigerator oar flowing into the bearing and, if not promptly drained therefrom, freezing in position and preventing movement of the lrol-ler in its proper functioning.

In the operation of the side bearing, the grooves 4A and 4B carry any water which tends to accumulate in the center of the bearing out into the. sumps 6 or 7 from which it drains through the drain openings 10 and 11, thus keeping the bearing from retaining any appreciable amount of water at any time. 7

Another feature of the groovesAzA and 4B is that they permit the use of a roller cut from a length of tubing or roundwbar, the square edges of which" would ordinarily out into the fillet of the housing.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been herein shown and described, it will be understood that details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention as defined bythe following claim.

We claim:

In a side bearing for railway cars, an elongated rectangular housing having bottom,- side, and end walls, said bottom wall 601 having a raised upper surface provided with a depression at its medial portion to form inclined runways terminating short of. the ends of said bottom wall, and said runways having the margins thereof spaced from the side wallsto aiford drain grooves extending to the ends of said housing, said end walls being semi-cylindrical in horizontal cross section and shaped to afford vertical spaced abutments lying beyond the ends of said runways, said end walls forming end chambers in said housing, and said abutments being reinforced by said semi-cylindrical walls, and projecting toward each other to a distance less than the width of said runways so as to lie in the path of a bearing member mounted on said runways,-the bottom wall having apertures in said chambers for receiving fastening members, drain ports in said semi cylindrical walls at the unction thereof with the bottom wall and in communication with said grooves, and a cylindrical bearing member riding on said HENRY F. WARDWELL. WALTER G. BLADIN. 

